Working for Forgiveness
by lae10
Summary: Bo wrecks the barn and the family is angry with him. They forgive him but Bo starts waking up earlier in the morning to do his chores and is leaving at the beginning of the afternoon and not returning till late at night. What is he doing?
1. Chapter 1

Bo was coming back from a little trip into town to get some nails so that he and Luke could fix the porch roof. Bo didn't want to go into town. He was lazy and he didn't feel like going anywhere. Not only that but he just didn't want to run into Boss Hogg and Rosco. He was already having a bad day and if he saw those two his day would just be getting worse. He just couldn't stand Boss and Rosco sometimes. They're always thinking of new ways to torture them and to get them in jail. He just couldn't stand it. They just made him so mad sometimes.

When Bo was about a mile away from the farm he went to hit the brakes only to find that he had no brakes. He kept on hitting the brakes but the General only seemed to go faster. He started to panic and he knew that the only way he was going to stop was for him to crash. He turned and headed up the road to the farm. There was nowhere for him to crash on the farm. He was headed right for the house and he rapidly turned the wheel to avoid it. He didn't hit the house but now he was on his way to the barn. He had no choice. He couldn't really do anything. He shut his eyes tight just as he felt the impact as he rammed into the barn. He was afraid to open his eyes once the car had stopped. He really didn't want to see all the damage that he had just caused. Either way, he was going to have to look at it sooner or later. He slowly opened his eyes and saw that there was part of the barn right on top of the General. He looked out the passenger window and saw that half the barn was totally gone. He just wanted to die. There was no way that Uncle Jesse was going to be able to pay for this. They already were short on money and now he just made it worse. He couldn't believe it.

Bo slowly climbed out of the General and walked out of what used to be the barn. He turned around and looked at the damage. Half the barn was still standing and the other half was on top of the General. He let out a shaky breath just as he heard footsteps coming up behind him. He just knew that they were going to be mad. He felt so stupid. Why did he do this? How could he do this?

"Bo, are you all right?" Daisy asked running up to him.

Bo nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

All four of them were looking at what was left of the barn. Daisy looked scared, Luke looked confused, Bo looked guilty, and Uncle Jesse looked angry.

"Bo, how could you do this?" Daisy asked.

"It wasn't my fault," Bo said defending himself.

"You drove into the barn!" Uncle Jesse shouted. "Do you have any idea how much it's gonna cost to get that fixed?"

"Uncle Jesse, I'm really sorry about this," Bo said.

"Bo, I've always told you to be careful when you're driving!" Uncle Jesse yelled. "I knew sooner or later that someone was gonna drive right through the house. Instead, it was the barn!"

"We don't have the money to get it fixed," Luke said angrily. "How're we supposed to run a farm with only half a barn?"

Bo sighed. "Please just let me explain."

"Bo, right now I don't wanna hear it," Uncle Jesse said angrily. "Now I gotta go in the house and figure out who we're gonna get that barn fixed when we're already on a very tight budget."

Bo wanted to apologize again but Uncle Jesse turned around and walked away from him. Daisy just glared at Bo and followed Uncle Jesse into the house. Bo sighed and he fought to keep the tears back that were threatening to fall. He wanted nothing more than to curl up and die. He didn't mean for this to happen. He tried to stop but he couldn't. He never felt more ashamed of himself in his life. He felt so bad for disappointing his family.

Luke put a hand on Bo's shoulder. "Come on. I'll help you get the General outta there."

Bo sighed sadly as he and Luke went to the front of the General. It took them about ten minutes to push the General out of what was left of the barn. After they got the General out of the rubble and into the middle of the yard Bo reached in and handed Luke the bucket of nails he went into town for. Then he climbed into the pickup truck and told Luke that he was going for a drive to think things over. Luke nodded knowing that Bo felt bad at the moment so he let him go. He told Bo to be careful and before he knew it Bo was gone down the road.

As Bo drove down the road he thought about what Uncle Jesse said. They didn't have the money to fix the barn. They were already short on money as it is. How would they be able to pay to get the barn fixed? Bo felt so stupid for what he did. He never should've turned into the farm with the brakes not working. He knew that his family was disappointed in him. He should've checked the brake line on the General before he took off but he was so ashamed of his himself that he couldn't stand to be around his own family. They weren't going to be able to fix the barn for a long time. They didn't have the money for it. The only thing Bo could think of was to work around town to make the money. He really didn't want his family to be mad at him and he figured that it would make them proud if he worked to make the money on his own. And that's exactly what he was going to do.


	2. Chapter 2

When Bo got into town he went straight to the courthouse to talk to Boss Hogg to see if he could help him out in finding some work. He knew going to Boss was a big mistake but he couldn't go to Cooter because he probably would tell Uncle Jesse, Daisy, and Luke. He didn't want them to know about this. When he got the money he wanted to surprise them.

Bo walked up the steps and walked into the courthouse. When he got inside he saw Enos working on some paperwork at his desk. He took a deep breath and walked over to Enos.

"Hey, Enos."

"Hey, Bo, what's up?"

"Nothing much. I was wondering if you knew where Boss and Rosco were."

"They're back in Mr. Hogg's office," Enos answered. "Do you need to talk to them?"

Bo nodded. "Yeah, and it's important too."

"Well, I'll go tell them you need to talk to them."

Enos got up and knocked on Boss' door before walking in. After about two minutes Enos told Bo that he could go in and talk to them. When Bo walked in his office he closed the door behind him because he didn't want Enos to know what was going on either.

"Well, Bo Duke, what do you want?" Rosco asked.

"Yeah, I'm a very busy man," Boss said. "So tell me what you want."

Bo sighed. "Boss, I made a mistake and I need money to fix it. I ain't asking you for a loan, but do you know anyone who needs work to be done? I'm really desperate for money and I would do almost anything to get some."

"What's this mistake that you made?" Rosco asked.

Bo sighed again. "I was coming home from town and I lost the brakes. I stopped by driving through our barn. We don't have to money to get it fixed and that's why I'm willing to do almost any kind of work."

"Why should I help you?" Boss asked.

"Well, if I'm working all the time it gets a Duke outta your hair," Bo said.

Boss laughed. "Yeah, you're right, it does. That's a good reason but I still ain't helping you."

"Please, Boss," Bo begged. "Uncle Jesse, Luke, and Daisy are really disappointed in me for what I did. We ain't got the money to fix the barn. We're already low on money as it is, and if I can work we can get the barn fixed without having Uncle Jesse having to spend his money. Please, Boss. Luke and I have saved your miserable hide more than a few times. The least you could do is help me find some work to do. Please help me with this."

Boss' expression totally changed when Bo mentioned the fact that he and Luke have saved Boss numerous times. He knew it was true and that there was no possible way for him to deny it.

Boss sighed. "All right, listen. I know this fella who has a farm about a mile east of Clover Crossing. He has a lot of work on his farm that needs to be done, and I know he's willing to pay a fair price. He's coming into town tomorrow afternoon at two p.m. Be here then so you can meet him and he'll tell you the work that you'll be doing."

Bo nodded. "Okay, thanks, Boss. I'll see you tomorrow."

Bo turned around and walked out of Boss' office. He said good-bye to Enos and walked out of the courthouse. He felt relieved that Boss had found someone he could work for. However, he regretted going to Boss for help in the first place. He kind of had a feeling that Boss had something up his sleeve. He really didn't care at the time because he knew that whatever it is he could handle it.

Bo didn't head back to the farm just yet. Instead, he went over to Cooter's to visit with him for awhile. He didn't want to go back to the farm and get yelled at again. He decided to stay away from the farm as long as he could. He already felt bad enough as it is and he didn't want to feel any worse.

"Hey, Cooter," Bo said walking into the garage.

Cooter looked up at Bo and stopped working on the car that he was fixing. "Hey, Bo, what's up?"

Bo shrugged and lied. "Nothing much."

"Luke in town with you?" Cooter asked.

Bo shook his head. "No, he's still back at the farm."

Cooter gave Bo a weird look. It was very rare to see Bo or Luke come into town without the other one, and when they did, either Uncle Jesse needed one of them to stay behind and help him with the farm or something was wrong. And since Bo seemed a little quieter than usual, Cooter knew that something was wrong.

Cooter sighed. "Okay, Bo, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Bo lied.

"Bo, I know you better than that," Cooter said. "Usually when only you or Luke comes to town alone something's wrong. What is it?"

Bo sighed. He knew he wasn't going to be able to leave Cooter without telling him what was wrong. He knew that if he told him what he was up to that he'd tell Uncle Jesse, Daisy, and Luke. But there was chance that he could get Cooter to keep his mouth shut.

"Cooter, if I tell you, you gotta promise me you aint gonna say a word to no one."

"I promise."

Bo sighed. "Okay, on my way home earlier I lost the brakes on the General. Not even thinking, I turned into the farm and I…crashed into the barn."

"What?"

"Yeah, I crashed into the barn. Uncle Jesse, Daisy, and Luke were really angry with me. I took the pickup into town and I went to Boss Hogg looking for some work. I gotta come to town tomorrow afternoon and meet with this guy who was looking for someone to help him out around his farm. I wanna make the money to fix the barn on my own."

Cooter shook his head. "Why'd you go to Boss?"

Bo shrugged. "He's the only person I could think of."

"Well, you know I could use some help around the garage. You could work here."

Bo shook his head. "No, I couldn't do that, Cooter. You're my buddy and that would be like taking money from you and not paying you back. Me and Luke already owe you for fixing the General last week."

"Well, you could work here and on that farm," Cooter suggested. "You ain't gonna raise the money fast enough just working on a farm owned by someone you don't even know. I'll tell you something else, I ain't taking no for an answer."

Bo laughed. "Okay, all right. You win. Look I'll work with you and on that farm. But you gotta promise me that you ain't gonna tell a soul about this."

"I promise."

Bo smiled and shook hands with Cooter. He knew Cooter and he knew that he could trust Cooter.

_"Bo, this is Luke. You got your ears on?"_

Bo grabbed Cooter's CB. "You got Bo here."

_"Bo, listen, Uncle Jesse wants you back at the farm. We all need to talk to you."_

"Okay, I'll be there in about twenty minutes."

_"10-4."_

Bo said good-bye to Cooter and walked across the street to the pickup truck. He climbed in and headed out of town wondering what they all wanted to talk to him about, even thought he had a pretty good idea what it was.


	3. Chapter 3

Bo was really nervous about driving back to the farm. He new that they wanted to talk to him about the barn, and Bo honestly didn't want to talk about it. He already felt bad for what he did. He didn't want to go through a big huge lecture about what happened. He didn't want to relive it. He had made mistakes before but never like this.

When Bo arrived at the farm he sat in the truck for about five minutes before he went inside. He was scared about what they were going to say. He didn't want to get yelled at again. He hated it when his family was angry with him. However, he deserved to have his family angry with him. It was his fault that he drove into the barn. It wasn't his fault that he didn't have any brakes but it was his fault the barn was wrecked because he should've known better than to pull into the farm with no brakes. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Luke was looking out the window at him. Bo really didn't want to go inside. He didn't want to talk about the incident that happened earlier. But he was going to have to face the music sooner or later.

Bo climbed out of the truck and slowly walked into the house. When he gout inside Uncle Jesse, Luke, and Daisy were sitting in the living room. Uncle Jesse motioned for Bo to come and sit down with them. Bo obeyed and sat down next to Luke on the couch.

Uncle Jesse sighed. "Bo, we would all like to apologize. We never should've yelled at you like we did."

"Yeah, Bo," Daisy said. "Honey, we're sorry. I feel so bad."

"It's okay," Bo said.

"It was just an accident," Uncle Jesse said. "We never should've yelled at you. I'm just worried about our money problem. It's gonna take awhile to get the money. We're gonna have to try to run a farm without a barn for awhile."

Bo nodded slowly and looked down at his lap. He looked up when Luke put his hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently. Bo felt a little better now that he knew his family wasn't mad at him. They forgave him but he still felt a little bad.

Bo stood up and Daisy wrapped her arms around him. Bo hugged her back and kissed the top of her head. Then Uncle Jesse stood up and hugged Bo too. After they pulled away Bo turned around and walked back outside. Luke stood up and followed him out there. He stood up on the porch as he watched Bo walk to the General. He got a little confused when Bo lay on the ground and looked under the General. He waited a few minutes before walking off the porch and walking to the General. He stood next to the General and waited for Bo to finish doing whatever he was doing. When Bo finally did poke his head out he flinched, not expecting to see Luke standing there.

"Sorry, Bo," Luke said. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Bo stood up. "It's okay."

"What were you doing underneath the General Lee?"

"I was just checking to make sure everything's in place," Bo said.

"Is anything wrong with him?"

Bo shook his head. "No, everything's okay."

Luke nodded. "Well, now that everything's okay with the General, are you okay?"

Bo nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, it just seems that you're still feeling bad about what happened," Luke said. "You're quiet. I just wanted to make sure that you're okay."

"I'm fine, Luke. Don't worry about me."

Luke shook his head. "I can't. It's my 24-hour job. I can't help but worry about you."

Bo smiled a little. "I appreciate it, Luke, and I'm fine. Really, I'm okay."

"I'm just making sure," Luke said. "I saw the way you looked just before you left the farm in Uncle Jesse's pickup. I really didn't think that you were in any condition to be driving. We started to feel bad for yelling at you, and we wanted to apologize. That's why I called you on the CB. But now even after we apologized you still feel bad for what happened and you shouldn't. It was just an accident."

"Yeah, I know it was an accident, but I still feel bad," Bo said. "I was driving and I should've been more careful."

"Bo, don't go beating yourself up over this," Luke said. "It wasn't your fault. It was an accident. It wasn't anybody's fault."

"I know, but I can't help it," Bo said.

"Bo, we'll get the barn fixed," Luke said. "It's gonna take some time but we'll get it fixed."

"Yeah, but how're we supposed to run a farm without a barn?" Bo asked.

Luke shrugged. "I ain't sure but we will. It ain't gonna be easy but we'll do it. We're Dukes and nothing can keep us down."

That made Bo smile. Luke was happy to see Bo finally smile. Luke always had a way to make Bo smile. Whenever Bo was sad or down Luke always knew how to cheer Bo up. Bo wrapped his arms around Luke's neck and squeezed tightly. Luke put his arms around Bo's waist and hugged him just as tight. Bo couldn't help but smile. Even though Bo still felt bad, that couldn't stop Luke from making him smile. Bo really wanted to tell Luke what he was planning on doing to get the money to fix the barn. However, he wanted to surprise him along with Uncle Jesse and Daisy.

After they pulled away they both walked into the house. As the day went on Bo started to wonder about tomorrow. He knew going to Boss for help was a mistake because, with Boss, there was a chance that he could be working for a convict. But Bo didn't really care at the time. He needed the money and as long as he was making the money, he really didn't care.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning Bo woke up at 4:30. He knew about all the chores he would have to do that morning and he wanted to wake up early to get them done. Once he woke up he slowly got dressed. He knew that Luke was a light sleeper and if he woke up he would be wondering what Bo was doing, and Bo would have to lie to Luke and that's something that he definitely didn't want to do. It was going to be hard enough for him to keep Luke from finding out what he was doing and he honestly didn't want to lie to do it.

It took him about two hours to do his chores. He took a break and then he began to work on the General. He lay underneath the car and searched for the problem. The brake line had been cut. When Bo looked at it he realized that it had been cut deliberate. He couldn't think of anyone who would want to do something like that. Why would anybody want to do that? He could've gotten hurt, hurt someone else, or, even worse, he could've gotten killed.

It took Bo about an hour to fix the brake line. When he was done it was about 7:30. It was almost time for everybody else to be up. Bo put everything away, and he went back to the General to close the hood. When he turned around Luke was just walking out of the house.

"Bo, what're you doing up so early?" Luke asked.

"I woke up around 4:30 and I couldn't fall asleep," Bo said. "So I came outside to do my chores and work on the General."

"Well, if you worked on the General I should check to make sure you did everything right," Luke joked.

Bo laughed. "Thanks a lot."

Luke clapped Bo on the back. "Don't worry. I'm sure you did just fine. You got plans today?"

Bo nodded slowly. "Yeah, I have a date at two o'clock."

"With who?"

"Anna Marie Tompkins," Bo lied.

Luke nodded. "Well, cousin, you better be careful. Do you remember what happened the last time you went out with Anna Marie?"

"Don't remind me," Bo said.

"Mr. Tompkins' scared you off his property with his shotgun," Luke said, "after he blew up at you."

"I was only an hour late bringing her home," Bo said defending himself. "What's the big deal?"

Luke laughed. "Just be careful."

"Don't worry, Luke," Bo said. "We're just going to the Boar's Nest for lunch. She's bringing herself home. That way, I can't be blamed for her being home late."

"Smart move," Luke said. "I was just wondering if you wanted to do some fishing, but we can do it another time."

"Are you sure, Luke?" Bo asked, feeling bad that he had to lie to Luke.

Luke nodded. "Yeah, you already have plans and I don't wanna intrude. Don't worry, it's okay."

"Thanks, Luke."

"Just be careful. We don't want a repeat of last time."

Bo laughed and shook his head. "No, we don't."

"Well, how about we get some target practice in?" Luke asked.

Bo nodded. "Okay."

Luke smiled and turned around and jogged back into the house. Bo smiled to himself and walked to the spot where he and Luke always stand for target practice. He was glad that he and Luke were going to hang out together.

After about five minutes Luke came outside with both bows in his hands. He handed Bo his bow and they flipped a coin to see who would go first. Bo got to go first and they were competing on who could get closer to the bull's eye. They almost practice almost all morning. Luke beat Bo a lot of the times but they would stop every now and then so Luke could help Bo out a little bit. As Luke was helping Bo, Bo was helping Luke out a little bit too. As the boys were helping each other they both started doing better with their target practice. Not only that but they were having a lot of fun together.

Bo was in the General Lee on his way to town around 1:30. He was actually having second thoughts about all this. He had no idea what he was getting himself into. He honestly couldn't believe that he went to Boss Hogg for help. He wanted to get to know this fella a little bit before he started working for him. Not only that but he'd be helping Cooter out a little bit too while he was working for this other guy. All Bo wanted was money to fix the barn. He wanted the barn to be fixed soon too. He didn't want it to be hard to run a farm. Bo had to admit that he was scared. Who was this guy? Is he mean? Is he strict? Is he a convict?

When Bo got to town he parked the General across the street from the courthouse. He walked into the courthouse and saw Boss and Rosco talking with some guy. When he walked in all three of them turned around. Boss sighed really loud when he saw Bo.

"I figured you weren't gonna show up," Boss said.

"Well, I showed," Bo said.

Boss turned to the stranger. "Mr. Parker, this here is Bo Duke. He said that he'd be willing to help you out around your farm."

"Nice to meet you," Bo said extending his hand.

"You too, Bo, and please call me Thomas," he said shaking Bo's hand.

Thomas seemed like a really nice and laid back kind of guy. He was wearing faded jeans with a red plaid shirt and some cowboy boots and a cowboy hat. He had dark brown hair like Luke and brown eyes. Surprisingly, he stood at about 6'2" just like Bo and seemed a little more muscular. He seemed like an okay guy to Bo.

"Thanks for wanting to help me with my farm," Thomas said.

"Oh, it's my pleasure," Bo said. "I just really need the money."

"When can you start?" Thomas asked.

"Right now," Bo said.

"Great!"

"I'll follow you in my car," Bo said.

"Okay," Thomas answered.

Bo and Thomas walked out of the courthouse and Bo climbed into the General. Thomas climbed into an old black pickup and Bo started to follow him out of town. He started to think that his wouldn't be too bad. He had no idea how wrong he was.


	5. Chapter 5

When they got to Thomas's farm Thomas put Bo to work right away. Thomas told Bo that he didn't really have much to do today and that just made Bo happy. Thomas explained to Bo about how his tractor that just up and died last week on him. Thomas handed Bo his toolbox and Bo started to fix it. He honestly didn't think it would take that long to do but it actually took him quite awhile to fix.

Meanwhile, at the Boar's Nest, Cooter and Luke were drinking a beer and chatting with Daisy. Luke and Daisy were talking about how strange Bo had been acting ever since he accidentally wrecked the barn. Luke explained how he knew Bo was still feeling bad for what happened. He also said that he told him it was an accident and that it wasn't his fault, but even after they hugged each other Bo still blamed himself. Cooter basically sat there and listened to his friends' conversation. He couldn't help but feel bad for Bo. The poor guy was blaming himself for something that wasn't his fault. He wanted to tell Luke and Daisy what Bo was doing but he promised Bo that he wouldn't. He couldn't break his promise to Bo. But he did decide that if things got out of hand that he would tell. He was proud of Bo for wanting to come up with the money himself to help fix the barn. Bo was always a good kid growing up so it didn't come as a surprise to Cooter that he wanted to get the money on his own. He was a little surprised when he found out that Bo wrecked the barn but he wasn't surprised at all when Bo said that he wanted to get the money on his own.

As Luke, Cooter, and Daisy were talking three girls walked into the Boar's Nest laughing. Luke turned around and he noticed that one of the girls was Anna Marie Tompkins. When they sat down at a table Luke stood up and walked over to them.

"Hi, Anna Marie," Luke said.

"Hi, Luke. How's it going?" she asked.

"It's going pretty good," Luke answered. "How was your lunch date with Bo?"

"Huh?"

"Didn't you have a lunch date with Bo today?" Luke asked confused.

Anna Marie shook her head. "No, I didn't, Luke. I haven't seen or spoken to Bo since the last time we went out."

"Bo told me today that he had a lunch date with you this afternoon," Luke said.

"No, we didn't, Luke," she said. "I haven't seen him in awhile. My father actually doesn't want me to go out with Bo anymore. He doesn't want a repeat of last time."

Luke nodded. "Okay, then. Nice talking to you, Anna Marie."

Luke turned around and walked back to Daisy and Cooter. Luke picked up his glass and took a sip of his beer. Why would Bo say that he had a lunch date with Anna Marie? Why did he lie? What is he trying to cover up? Luke couldn't help but wonder what was going on. Bo wasn't the type of person to lie. It really bothered Luke that Bo actually lied to him. And it worried Luke too because he didn't know where on earth Bo was.

Luke sighed. "Well, I can't believe it."

"What?" Cooter said.

Luke looked at him. "Bo lied to me."

Daisy must've heard what he said because she started to walk fast toward them.

"Bo did what?" she asked with a little fear in her voice.

"Our little cousin lied to me," Luke said.

"What're you talking about?" Cooter asked.

Luke sighed. "This morning Bo woke up earlier than usual. I found him outside working on the General when I woke up. I asked him if he wanted to go fishing today and he said that he had a date with Anna Marie Tompkins."

"Even after what happened last time?" Daisy asked.

Luke nodded. "That's the same thing I was wondering at the time. Well, Anna Marie just walked in her with some friends and I asked her how her lunch date went with Bo. She said that she hasn't seen or talked to Bo since the last time they went out."

"Why would Bo lie about something like that?" Daisy asked.

Luke shrugged. "I ain't sure. I wanna get to the bottom of this. Can I use the CB?"

"Sure, Luke," Daisy said.

Luke walked behind the counter and picked up the CB. He was hoping that he could raise Bo and find out what's going on.

"Lost Sheep 1 calling Lost Sheep2, you got your ears on?"

Luke waited for an answer and he started to get a little frustrated when he didn't get one.

"Bo, this is Luke, you got your ears on? Come back."

Luke got worried when Bo didn't answer. He wanted to know where his baby cousin was. It was five o'clock and normally Luke would be worried but since Bo didn't answer the CB it did worry him. He needed to know. Since Bo was still feeling bad for wrecking the barn Luke was worried that Bo was going to do something stupid.

Luke and Daisy got home that night around ten o'clock. Uncle Jesse was already sleeping so they decided to crash for the night too. When Luke walked into the room that he shared with Bo the first thing he noticed was that Bo wasn't there. The second he started to wonder where he was he heard the front door slam. About a minute later Bo walked into the bedroom.

"Hey, Bo," Luke said.

"Hey, Luke, I thought you'd be asleep by now."

Luke shook his head. "Me and Daisy just got home and Uncle Jesse is sleeping already. Where've you been?"

"I've been driving around in the General for awhile," Bo said. "I really haven't been doing anything all night."

"How was your date with Anna Marie?" Luke asked hoping to get something out of Bo.

"It was good," Bo said. "It was really good to see her again."

Luke nodded and he just couldn't believe that Bo was lying to him. Bo never lied to him before and he couldn't understand why he was doing it now. He decided to let it go for now. He wanted to find out what Bo was doing and why he was lying. Bo and Luke climbed into their beds and about a minute later Luke could hear Bo's soft snoring. Luke knew Bo was up to something, he just couldn't figure out what. He aimed to find out. That was the last thing he was thinking before he fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Bo woke up the next morning at 4:30. He slowly got dressed and went outside to do his chores. As he did his chores he thought about last night. He really felt bad for lying to Luke. He had a feeling that Luke was suspicious of him lying and he knew that Luke was going to try to find out what was going on. That's what worried him. Luke was very protective of him and Daisy. If he knew something was wrong with his cousins he would stop at nothing to find out what it was. Bo really wanted to tell Luke what he was doing but he just couldn't. He wanted to surprise him. He just didn't want Luke to figure out what he was doing. He knew Luke and he knew Luke was going to snoop around a little to find out what's going on. Bo's plan was to wake up early and get his chores done and be on his way to Thomas's farm before anybody was awake. He had a feeling he was going to start worrying everybody but this was something that he had to do. He really had to do this.

It was about 7:30 when he got his chores done, and it was almost time for everyone else to be up. He quickly cleaned up and climbed into the General and took off down the road. He felt bad for leaving and he should've left a note but then he would have to say what he was doing.

Bo arrived at Thomas's farm about half an hour later. Thomas was sitting outside on his porch waiting for Bo. When Bo pulled up to the farm Thomas smiled and walked off the porch.

"Morning, Bo," Thomas said.

"Morning," Bo answered. "What kind of work do you have for me today?"

Thomas sighed. "Well, I would like to have a shed built by that big old oak tree by the barn. I was wondering if you could start working on that. It doesn't have to be done today but it would be nice to get a start on it."

Bo nodded. "Okay. Thomas, I was wondering about the money. That's what we didn't discuss yesterday."

"Well, it just depends on how much work you do," Thomas said. "I'll give you $15 for the work that you did yesterday."

Bo nodded again. "Okay, well, I'll get to work."

Bo walked over to the wood pile and began to build the shed that Thomas wanted.

Meanwhile, at the farm, Luke was outside doing his chores wondering where in the world Bo was. When he woke up Bo wasn't in his bed and he wasn't anywhere on the farm. He called him on the CB but he didn't get an answer. Luke was really starting to get frustrated. He wanted to know where Bo was, what he was doing, and why he started lying all of a sudden. He wasn't really angry at Bo. He was more worried about him than angry at him. He was just hoping that Bo wasn't going to do something stupid.

Throughout the day Luke couldn't get his mind off of Bo. After he finished his chores he took Uncle Jesse's pickup and went out to look for Bo. He first went into town and asked around if anyone saw Bo. Nobody saw him and it really worried Luke. Bo was always the type of person to cause trouble. Luke was usually there to bail him out. This time it was different. Luke had no idea where Bo was, and if he was getting into trouble Luke couldn't bail him out because he had no idea where he was. As Bo and Luke grew up together Luke quickly became Bo's protector. No matter what Bo was doing Luke was usually there to help him out. Bo was once getting beaten on by some bullies at school and Luke didn't hesitate when he saw what was happening. He jumped in and pulled the bullies off of his cousin. He had to punch one guy, and Luke grabbed Bo and they made a run for it while that bully was still getting over the shock of getting punched. Luke did everything he could growing up to protect him. As Bo got older he started to look after Luke as well. Bo and Luke grew closer and closer, and they became the best of friends at a very early age. They began to look after each other. When Luke went to Vietnam Bo slowly shut himself from the world. He would do anything with his friends and he would barely talk to anyone. Luke could tell that something was wrong with Bo. In his letters he seemed to be so sad and scared. Luke would always tell him that he loved him and that he'd come home alive, but it didn't help Bo. Then Bo got worse when they found out that Luke was MIA and presumed dead. When Bo found out he hid in the loft in the barn and cried for hours. For about a month Bo wouldn't speak to anyone and he stopped trying in school. Bo thought is life was completely over until they got a phone call from Luke saying that he was okay. Bo's eyes lit up and the sound of his cousin's voice. It was just a regular afternoon when the phone rang. Bo was the one to pick it up and the first words he heard were, "Hey, cousin." At first he thought it was some kind of sick joke but he soon realized that it was Luke and his eyes just popped out of his head. They talked for a little bit, and then he gave Uncle Jesse and Daisy a chance to talk to him. After they were done Bo wanted to talk to him again. Right before they hung up Luke repeated his promise to Bo and told him that he loved him. It would still be awhile before Luke came home but the phone call was all that Bo needed. He worked his butt off in school and Luke was very proud of his cousin for how hard he was working. Luke did some of his own work and was able to surprise Bo at his graduation. Bo probably scared the audience a little bit when he jumped off the stage and ran down the aisle. Bo jumped into Luke's arms and the crowd starting cheering. Almost everyone in Hazzard knew Bo and Luke and how close they are. It made everyone happy to see Luke after such a long time and it made everything better when Luke surprised Bo.

Suddenly, Luke heard a voice over the CB.

_"This is Bo Duke calling Boss Hogg."_

_"This is J.D. Hogg here."_

_"Boss, I ain't got much time to talk. I needed to tell you something before Thomas hears me."_

_"What is it?"_

_"There's something about him that I really recognize and it's something that I don't like. I can't really place it but it ain't good. This is only my second day working for him and he's already gotten bossy."_

_"How bossy?"_

_"Well, I was building him a shed, and when I did something wrong he really yelled at me. He was so mad that I thought he was going to hit me with his rake."_

_"Well, Bo, I really can't do anything about that. You agreed to work for him so you take care of it. Now I got work to do, so leave me alone. Over and out."_

Luke couldn't believe it. Who was Thomas? It seemed like Bo was working for someone. The only thing that he didn't know was why. He wanted to know where Bo was. He had to get the scoop on what was going on. Luke was determined to find out what was going on with his baby cousin, and he would stop at nothing to find out what it was.


	7. Chapter 7

That night Luke stayed up and waited for Bo to come home. Surprisingly, Bo didn't come home till about two in the morning. Bo was so tired that he didn't even realize that Luke was still awake. When Bo walked into the bedroom that he shared with Luke he plopped down on his bed and fell asleep without taking off his shirt or his boots. Luke sighed sadly when he looked at Bo's sleeping form. He got out of his bed and took Bo's boots and shirt off, being very careful not to wake him up. Then he pulled the blankets up over Bo. He leaned over and kissed the top of Bo's head just like he used to when they were younger. Then he went to his own bed and fell asleep.

Bo woke up again around 4:30. He only had about two and a half hours of sleep and he had to get up to do his chores. He slowly dragged himself out of bed and got dressed and went outside. He did his chores a little faster than he did the past few days. The second he was finished with his chores he jumped into the General and headed to Thomas's farm.

On his way there he was hoping that he didn't mess up today. When he messed up yesterday Thomas got so mad that Bo actually thought that he was going to hit him. He accidentally cut a board too short and when he told Thomas about it he blew up at him.

_"Thomas, I accidentally cut a board too short," Bo said. "I was wondering if I could just cut another chunk of wood."_

_Thomas sighed. "Bo, can't you do anything right? I don't have the money to get more wood! You should've gotten it right the first time!"_

_Bo was scared and he stepped back a little bit. Thomas picked up the rake that was on the ground and pointed it at Bo. Thomas's face was beat red and he gripped the rake so hard that his knuckles started to turn white._

_"Thomas, I just measured wrong," Bo said stepping back a little further._

_"You can't do anything right!" Thomas shouted._

_"Thomas, I'm sorry," Bo said._

_"Yeah, you're gonna be more sorry!" Thomas yelled. "You're gonna finish building that shed today, and I don't care how long it takes you! You ain't leaving until it is done! Now get back to work!"_

Bo couldn't shake that out of his head. He was at Thomas's farm till about 1:30 in the morning. He finished the shed around six o'clock that night but Thomas made him stay longer to do some more work. He had to paint his barn, rake the yard, and some other stuff. Bo was so wiped out by the time he got home. Even though he messed up yesterday Thomas still paid him for the work that he did. He gave Bo the $15 for the first day and then he gave him $85 for the work that he did yesterday. So Bo had a total of $100. It was a good start and he had a feeling that it was going to cost at least $500 to fix the barn. He had a good chunk and he was hoping that it wouldn't take him long to raise the rest.

Meanwhile, back at the farm, Luke was just waking up and he was about to go crazy. He decided to get up a little early so he could catch Bo and try to talk to him but he was already gone. He was getting really frustrated and he had to talk to Bo to find out what was going on. He was worried about his cousin. From what he heard on the CB yesterday, he had a feeling that Boss knew something about this.

After he finished his chores he took Uncle Jesse's pickup into town and was going to talk to Boss and Rosco about this. He knew that Boss had something to do with this because, otherwise, Bo wouldn't have called him on the CB. Somehow Boss knows this Thomas guy but Luke didn't know how and that is what he was going to find out. If Boss was involved with this thing then it couldn't be good.

When Luke got to town he parked right in front of the courthouse. He jumped out of the pickup and jogged into the courthouse. When he got inside he saw Enos doing some paperwork and Boss and Rosco were arguing about something.

"Hey, Luke," Enos said.

"Hey, Enos."

"Luke Duke, what do you want?" Boss asked.

Luke sighed. "Boss, where's Bo?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play games with me, Boss!" Luke almost shouted. "I heard your short conversation with Bo on the CB yesterday. I know that he's working for some Thomas fella, and I know that you're involved in the somehow. Now what's going on?"

"I ain't got a clue what you're talking about," Boss lied.

"Boss, this ain't funny!" Luke shouted. "Something is going on with my cousin and I wanna know what!"

"Luke, I ain't got no idea what in the world you're talking about!" Boss shouted back. "Now I'm very busy, so get outta here!"

Luke was getting really mad. He knew Boss was lying to him. A jackass would know that Boss was lying. Luke knew Boss knew what was going on. He was going to shake it out of Boss if he had to. Luke was doing everything he could not to punch Boss in the face. Maybe then Boss would tell Luke what was going on.

"Boss, you listen to me and you listen good," Luke growled. "If anything, and I mean anything, happens to Bo and I find out that you're involved, you better run fast."

Luke turned around and walked out of the courthouse and slammed the door shut. Luke was going on a mission. His mission was to find his youngest cousin and find out what's going on. And that's exactly what he was going to do.


	8. Chapter 8

For about a week the same thing was happening. Bo was always waking up earlier and coming home very late at night. Most of the nights, Luke would stay up and wait for Bo to come home. But when he woke up in the morning Bo was already gone. Luke even woke up earlier than he usually would but Bo was already gone. Then Luke would stay up and wait for him to come home late at night, but Bo would always go straight to bed. He never even knew that Luke stayed up for him. As the week went on it worried Luke even more and more. He never got to talk to Bo and he never got to ride in the General Lee. Not only that but Luke could tell that Bo hadn't been getting any sleep, and Luke knew that it wasn't a good sign. He had to do something.

One afternoon Daisy took the General and got Rosco and Enos to chase her, thinking she was Bo and Luke. It gave Luke a chance to sneak into Boss's office and see if he could find something about what was going on with Bo. Boss was over in Capitol City doing something that Luke didn't know so it would be easy for Luke to slip in and slip out. He really didn't care just as long as he could find something out. When he got into Boss's office he searched around the desk for anything. At first he didn't find anything. He was about to give up when he found a piece of paper that had Boss's handwriting on it. It said something about some Thomas guy getting rid of the Duke boys so Boss could move along with his latest scam. There had been some cars in Hazzard stolen and it seems that Boss was the mastermind of it all. Thomas was to get one of the Duke boys out of the way and then work on the other one. By getting Bo out of the way first, he was getting Luke out of the way too.

Luke couldn't believe that even Boss could sink so low. Whatever Thomas was doing with Bo was really tiring him out. He wanted to know exactly how much work and what kind of work Thomas was making Bo do.

_"Luke, this is Bo Peep."_

Luke went to the CB. "This here's Luke."

_"I just lost Rosco and Enos, and it looks like they're headed for town. Did you find anything out?"_

"You bet I did. Listen, come pick me up in front of the courthouse."

_"You got it. I'll be there in about five minutes. I'm gone."_

Luke folded the piece of paper in his hands and put it in his pocket. Then he walked out of Boss's office and then out of the courthouse. Out on the courthouse steps he waited for Daisy to show up. She showed up in five minutes just like she said. Daisy scooted over and Luke climbed into the driver's seat. He quickly put the car in drive and headed out of town toward the farm.

"What'd you find out, Luke?" Daisy asked.

Luke sighed and pulled out the piece of paper in his pocket and handed it to her.

"Boss is definitely involved with what Bo's been doing," Luke said.

Daisy unfolded the paper and started to read it. When she finished her eyes grew wide with fear. She was thinking the same thing that Luke had thought.

"Luke, what's happening to our cousin?" she asked.

Luke shrugged. "Apparently, Boss is stealing cars and he wants us out of the way so we can't stop him."

"Are you gonna?"

"We're sure gonna try."

"Well, how?"

Luke shook his head. "I don't know. But we gotta figure out what's going on with Bo and why he's working for that fella."

"How're you gonna do that?"

"I've got an idea," Luke said.

Daisy listened to Luke's plan and she thought it was a great idea. Sometimes Luke had some very strange ideas. This was pretty strange but it wasn't unique. And they both were hoping that it would work.

When Daisy and Luke got home they told Uncle Jesse what Luke was planning on doing. Uncle Jesse also thought that it was a good idea. Before they told him what Luke was doing they showed him the piece of paper that Luke found in Boss's office. When Uncle Jesse read it Luke explained to him what he was thinking. Uncle Jesse was angry. He was so mad that he was getting ready to grab the keys to the pickup so he could go into town. But when Luke told him what he was doing he decided to let Luke handle the situation. Luke was hoping that he could handle the situation without getting busted in the process.


	9. Chapter 9

Luke stayed up and waited for Bo to come home that night. He came home a little earlier than usual but it was still very late. Once he knew Bo was asleep Luke went into the living room and fell asleep on the couch. He knew that if he slept on the couch he would wake up when Bo walked through the living room because there are a bunch of squeaky boards on the floor. He knew for a fact that he would wake up.

Just like Luke figured, he was woken up by the squeaky floorboards. He pretended to be asleep but the second he heard the door close he got off the couch and looked out the window. He saw Bo head out toward their back 40. He and Bo were supposed to put up a fence back there and Luke figured that Bo was going out there to start working on it. Luke looked at the clock at it was about 4:30 in the morning. It was clear to Luke that Bo hadn't been getting any sleep for the past week. He stayed in the house and waited for Bo to come back. He waited impatiently for about an hour before Bo came back. Luke kept a close eye on Bo when he came back. When Bo climbed into the General and pulled out of the farm Luke ran outside and jumped into the pickup and started to follow him. He followed far back so Bo wouldn't see him. When they got to Clover Crossing they made a turn and headed south. They went on for about another mile or so when Bo turned into a farm. Luke figured that it was Thomas's farm. Luke pulled into the woods and hid the pickup truck. He got out of the truck and walked along the road until he got to the farm. He hid behind a tree and watched Bo. Some guy came out of the barn and Luke assumed that was Thomas. They talked for a little bit but then suddenly Thomas punched Bo across the face. Luke gasped and then Thomas pulled him by the hair and threw him to the ground. Luke was so scared when Bo wouldn't fight back. Thomas started to kick him in the chest and in the sides. When he gave Bo on swift kick in the head Luke couldn't take it anymore. He ran as fast as he could toward them. He slammed into Thomas and pushed him away from Bo. He punched Thomas in the stomach and then in the face, and Thomas fell to the ground. He just lay on the ground moaning and Luke turned to Bo. Bo was lying on the ground with his arm across his chest. He had a big bruise on his left cheek along with a gash above his right eye and a bloody nose.

Luke knelt down next to his cousin and put his hand on his shoulder. He pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the blood from Bo's nose.

"Are you all right?" he asked Bo.

Bo nodded but didn't say anything. Luke turned around just as Thomas was pulling himself to his feet.

"What do you think you're doing here?" Thomas yelled at Luke. "Get outta here!"

"What do you think you're doing?" Luke yelled back. "You have no right to be beating him up!"

"He can't do nothing right!" Thomas yelled.

"So you're gonna beat him up for that?"

"I don't have to listen to you!" Thomas shouted. "This is my property, so get off!"

"This may be your property but that's my cousin!" Luke shouted pointing to Bo. "And I'll leave but I'm taking him with me!"

Luke turned around to help Bo up but Thomas jumped on him. Luke struggled to get him off but Thomas shoved him to the ground. Bo yelled at Thomas to leave Luke alone and he soon regretted saying that. Thomas turned to him and kicked him in the head to shut him up. Bo went down flat on his back and fought to stay conscious but was defeated. Luke saw what happened, and he stood up and punched Thomas in the face. He punched him one more time and threw him to the ground.

"You leave my cousin alone!" Luke shouted at him.

Luke turned away from him and got on his knees next to Bo. He was out cold, and Luke checked for a pulse and found a very slow one. Luke slowly and gently picked Bo up and brought him to the General. The pickup truck would've been easier but he would have had to walk down the road a little bit. He gently put Bo in the passenger seat. Then he ran around to the driver's side and climbed in. He started the car and quickly backed the car out of the farm.

As Luke drove to the hospital he called Uncle Jesse and Daisy on the CB to let them know what happened. When they asked how Bo was doing Luke knew that he couldn't lie, and he said that he didn't look too good. They said that they'd meet them at the hospital. Luke kept on driving and glanced at his unconscious cousin in the seat next to him e very few minutes. He couldn't believe what had happened. The only thing is that he didn't know why Bo was working for Thomas in the first place. Right now that didn't matter. All that mattered was getting Bo to the hospital and getting him better.


	10. Chapter 10

When they got to the hospital the paramedics came out and took Bo away on a stretcher. Luke couldn't stand to see his cousin in that condition. It just hurt him so much. Not only that, but Bo hated hospitals. He just couldn't stand to be in them. Luke decided that when Bo was set up in a room that he would stay with him to make it a little easier for him while he was in the hospital.

About an hour after Bo was taken into the Emergency Room, Uncle Jesse and Daisy showed up along with Cooter. When they walked into the waiting room Daisy ran to Luke and threw her arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed the top of her head.

"Is he okay?" she asked pulling away.

Luke shrugged. "I don't know. He's been in there for about an hour and I haven't heard anything yet."

"Well, what happened?" Uncle Jesse asked.

"When I followed Bo to Thomas's farm I pulled into the bushes and hid the pickup," Luke explained. "I watched what they were doing and suddenly Thomas started punching and kicking him. When I jumped in I yelled at Thomas to leave him alone. Then he jumped on me and threw me to the ground. Then he turned around and kicked Bo in the head."

"Oh, my gosh!" Daisy cried.

"He was out cold when I brought him here," Luke said. "No one has said anything on how he's doing."

"Did you find out why he was working for this fella?" Uncle Jesse asked.

Luke shook his head. "No, I didn't. And that's what scares me, because if he doesn't pull through, then we'll never know."

Uncle Jesse walked up to Luke and put his arms around him to try to calm him down. Luke leaned his head on his uncle's shoulder and sighed deeply.

"Y'all, I know why Bo was working for Thomas," Cooter said.

Luke lifted his head from Uncle Jesse's shoulder and looked at him.

"What?" Luke asked. "You knew?"

Cooter slowly nodded. "Yeah, I did."

"You knew and you didn't say anything?"

"Bo made me promise not to tell y'all," Cooter said. "He went to Boss Hogg looking for work after he drove into the barn. He's been working for Thomas to raise the money to fix it."

Luke sighed and lowered his head. He should've known that Bo was doing something like that. He knew that Bo was still feeling bad for wrecking the barn but he had no idea that he was trying to get the money to fix it. And he was right. He knew that Boss Hogg had something to do with this. He wanted to kill Boss but right now Bo needed him.

Finally, the doctor came out looking for the family of Bo Duke. They all walked over to the doctor including Cooter. They were just so scared about what he was going to say about Bo's condition. Luke knew that Bo was in bad shape and everyone else knew it too, but they didn't see Bo all beat up. Luke did and it really worried him because Bo looked really bad when he brought him to the hospital.

"How is he?" Luke asked.

The doctor sighed. "Well, it's not good right now. He's got a lot of cuts and bruises, and we found some bruises that seemed to be made a few days ago. He's got a very bad concussion and he seems to be very exhausted."

"Is he gonna be all right?" Luke asked.

"That's gonna depend on him," the doctor said. "The concussion isn't too bad but the problem is that he's not conscious yet. The sooner he wakes up the better."

"Can we see him?" Luke asked.

The doctor nodded. "Yes, you may. He's in room 314."

The Dukes and Cooter walked down the hallway to the room that Bo was in. Luke slowly opened the door, and when he saw Bo he almost broke down crying. Bo was hooked up to so many different machines and the beeping from one of them seemed to echo throughout the room. Luke just hated seeing his baby cousin lying in a hospital bed. When Luke looked at him he seemed so young. Sometimes people look younger when they're sleeping. Luke was so sad because Bo shouldn't have been in that bed. Thomas never should've done what he did. Now Bo was the one who was paying for it. But Thomas would be paying for it later.

That night Luke stayed at the hospital with Bo. Uncle Jesse, Daisy, and Cooter left, and the doctor said that Luke could stay if he wanted to. The whole night Luke sat in a chair next to the bed holding Bo's hand. He talked to him softly trying to wake him up, occasionally falling asleep. There were times when he woke up hoping that Bo would be awake but he wasn't. The longer Bo was sleeping scared Luke. He just wanted him to wake up. He held his hand and talked to him softly and he leaned his head on the bed and fell asleep. He had no idea how long he was asleep but he woke up when he felt something squeeze his hand. He slowly lifted his head and saw that his hand was still clutching Bo's hand. He looked over at Bo's face and saw two very tired baby blue eyes looking at him. Luke sighed and then smiled as he stroked Bo's hair.

"Hey, cuz," Luke said softly.

"Luke?"

"Yeah, it's me. How're you feeling?"

"Not good."

Luke chuckled. "Well, I figured that much."

"Where's Uncle Jesse and Daisy?"

"They're at home sleeping," Luke told him still stroking his hair. And he got right down to business. "Are you well enough to tell me what's going on?"


	11. Chapter 11

That was just like Luke, wanting to get right down to business. Bo was afraid to tell him what was really going on. He didn't want Luke to be mad at him. He lied and there was no way that his family could forgive him for that.

Bo shook his head gently. "I don't wanna tell you."

"You're gonna have to sooner or later, kiddo," Luke said. "You might as well tell me now and tell Uncle Jesse and Daisy later."

Bo sighed and turned his head away from Luke. Luke couldn't help but feel bad for his cousin.

"Bo…come on, cousin. Don't do that," Luke said. When Bo didn't say anything Luke took a hold of Bo's chin and gently moved his head so that he would be looking straight at him. "Talk to me, Bo. Tell me what's going on."

Bo sighed and Luke let go of his chin. "Well, I've been working for Thomas to make the money to fix the barn."

"I told you that we would fix the barn in time," Luke said.

"Yeah, but I don't wanna wait," Bo said. "Luke, I thought that if I worked we'd get the money and the barn would be fixed faster than we were thinking. I just wanted to make it a little bit easier."

"Bo, we were getting along just fine without the barn," Luke told him.

"Yeah, but it was still harder," Bo said. "I wanted to make the money on my own because I was the one that crashed into the barn, even though there was no possible way for me to stop without crashing."

"What do you mean that you couldn't stop without crashing?" Luke asked.

Bo groaned because he realized what he just said. He forgot that Luke didn't know the reason why he couldn't stop. But now that he said what he said, he's going to have to tell Luke what he meant.

Bo sighed. "Luke, on my way home from town that day, I had no brakes."

"You had no brakes?"

Bo shook his head. "No, I didn't. I turned into the farm and almost drove into the house. But I turned around and drove into the barn instead."

Luke felt lower than a snake's belly. He had no idea that Bo had no brakes when he drove into the barn. If he had known that, Bo wouldn't have gotten yelled at. He wished Bo would have said something sooner. Maybe then Bo wouldn't have had to feel like he had to get the money to fix the barn.

"Bo, why didn't you say something sooner?" Luke asked.

Bo shrugged. "I didn't think that it would help."

"Of course it would've helped," Luke said. "If you said something sooner, you wouldn't have had to work for this guy."

"Luke, I…I'm sorry."

Luke shook his head. "Don't be. You have no reason to be sorry."

"Yes, I do," Bo said. "I lied to y'all."

"Bo, it's okay," Luke said.

"Dang it, Luke! No, it ain't!" Bo almost yelled. "I lied to you and I had no right to do that!"

Luke put his hand on Bo's shoulder to try to calm him down. If he kept yelling the nurses would've come in, and Luke would've gotten kicked out.

"Bo, calm down and let me talk," Luke said. "It's okay, and we ain't mad at you for lying."

"Well, you should be," Bo said quietly as a tear slowly slipped down his cheek.

Luke reached over and wiped it away with his thumb. "No, we shouldn't. You were only trying to help us all out. I only wish that you would've told us what you were doing."

Bo sighed. "I didn't say nothing because I wanted to surprise y'all. Instead, I scared y'all."

Luke nodded. "Yeah, you did scare us. You scared me the most. Each morning I was waking up and you weren't there for me to wake you up. I stayed up every night this past week and waited till you got home."

"You waited up for me?" Bo asked.

Luke nodded again. "Yeah, I did. Sometimes I would have to take your shirt and boots off and tuck you in."

Bo smiled a little bit and looked down. He was a little embarrassed by that but it felt a little good to know that Luke was looking out for him. Sometimes he liked being treated like a baby, especially by Luke. When Bo was younger Luke would always tuck Bo in bed and give him a kiss on the forehead before going to sleep himself. That all stopped when he left in the Marines, and they never started doing that again when he came back.

"I appreciate that, Luke," Bo said.

Luke sat down on the bed and wrapped an arm around his baby cousin. "It's no problem. But there is something that you should know."

Bo looked up at Luke. "What?"

Luke sighed. "You were working so late for Thomas so Boss could get you outta the way. He wanted to get us outta the way so he could steal cars. By getting you outta the way, he was getting me outta the way too."

"Do you think Boss cut the brake line on the General?" Bo asked.

Luke shook his head. "No, but maybe Thomas did it."

Bo stared at Luke with fear in his eyes. Bo never even took it into consideration t hat Thomas could've been the one to cut the brake line. BO was afraid of Thomas. He didn't want anything to do with him. He already hurt him and scared him. That was more than enough as far as Luke was concerned.

"Don't worry, Bo," Luke said as he squeezed Bo's shoulder gently. "We'll get this whole thing straightened out once and for all."


	12. Chapter 12

Bo stayed in the hospital for about two days after he woke up. When Uncle Jesse and Daisy came to the hospital after Bo woke up Luke explained to them what Bo had been doing for the past week. Once they knew what was going on they felt really guilty for yelling at Bo the day he crashed into the barn. If they had known what really happened they wouldn't have yelled at him. Now they knew that Boss had something to do with all this. And Luke said that if he found out that Boss was involved that he would go after him. He intended to make Boss pay for what he did. Not only that but Luke was going to hunt down Thomas as well so he can pay for what he did to Bo too.

When they got home Bo and Luke went to the bedroom that the two of them shared. They sat down on their beds and sat in silence while they each read car magazines, and they didn't say a word to each other. Luke was thinking about going into town and having a word or two with Boss about what happened. Then he would go to Thomas's farm and do the same thing. But he really didn't know whether to go or not. He had a feeling that Bo wouldn't want him to go and that's why he was debating whether or not to go. But he had to go. He had to make them pay for what they did to Bo.

When Luke stood up and walked to the door Bo looked up at him confused.

"Where you going, Luke?" Bo asked.

Luke turned around and looked at Bo. "I'm going to talk to Boss."

"No!" Bo shouted.

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

Bo sighed. "Boss don't care what happens to me. He'll just deny all of it so he don't get in trouble."

"Bo, that's the point," Luke said. "I aint gonna let Boss get away with this.

"He already has," Bo said quietly.

"No, he hasn't," Luke said. "Bo, if Boss's plan went on any further you would've gotten killed. I'm glad I followed you. Who knows what would've happened if I didn't? Boss ain't gonna get away with this and neither is Thomas."

"Forget Thomas," Bo said.

Luke shook his head. "I can't. He's partly responsible."

Bo nodded slowly. "Uh…Luke, can I come into town with you?"

"You sure you're up to it?"

Bo nodded and grinned. "You bet. I don't wanna miss this."

Luke laughed. "All right. Let's go."

Bo got up and followed Luke outside to the General. Luke helped Bo climb through the window before climbing in himself. He noticed that on the way into town that Bo was smiling just a little bit. He knew Bo was upset about what happened to him, but now that they were going after Boss for what happened, it seemed to make Bo a little happier. He felt bad for his cousin because of what he had to go through. That's why he was determined to make sure that Boss and Thomas don't get away with it.

When they got into town they parked right in front of the courthouse. When they climbed out of the General Cooter saw them, and he came running on over to them. When they explained to him what they were doing Cooter decided to tag along with them on this. He was also mad at Boss for what he did. Plus, he didn't want to miss out on Bo and Luke chewing him out for it.

When they walked into the courthouse Boss and Rosco were arguing about something, and they didn't even seem to realize that they walked in. When Luke slammed the door shut Boss and Rosco's heads shot up. When they saw the look on their faces they knew that something was up.

"What's going on?" Boss asked.

Luke crossed his arms over his chest. "Why don't you tell us?"

"What are you talking about?" Boss asked.

"I spent the last two days in the hospital," Bo said. "It was because of Thomas."

"Well, why are you mad at me for this?"

"You're the one who got me working for Thomas," Bo said. "If you wanted to steal cars you should've done it in a different county."

Boss gasped. "You can't come in here and accuse me of such a crime!"

"Boss, don't play dumb with us," Cooter said.

"We know you were stealing cars," Luke said. "We also know that Bo was working for Thomas to get him outta the way, so he couldn't ruin your plan. I snuck into your office to find out what was going on. And I told you that if I found out you had something to do with this I would come after you. But I ain't going to. You ain't worth it."

"Please, Bo and Luke, let me explain," Boss said trying to apologize.

"You'd just be wasting your time and ours," Bo said.

"Bo's life was in danger," Luke growled. "If I didn't follow him two days ago Thomas might have killed him!"

Boss looked down at his feet. He was honestly ashamed at what he had done, and he knew that there were no words that could make up for it either. He didn't mean for anybody to get hurt. He just wanted the Dukes out of the way. He also didn't know that Thomas was that violent. If he could take back what he did, he would in a second.

"Listen, boys, I'm really sorry."

"Yeah, I bet you are," Luke said.

All three of the boys glared at Boss and turned around and walked out of the courthouse. Luke really wanted to punch Boss but he didn't because then he would've gotten thrown in jail. And right now was not a good time for him to be in jail. So he wasn't going to punch Boss, but he did intend on punching Thomas again…and again…and again.


	13. Chapter 13

Luke slammed the courthouse doors as they walked outside. All three of them walked to the General and stood next to him in silence. They were too angry to speak. Neither of them actually thought that Boss would take things this far.

Bo was finally the one to break the silence. "So what're we gonna do now?"

Luke sighed. "Well, I'm gonna go find Thomas and knock some sense into him."

"Can I join y'all?" Cooter asked. "If there's gonna be a fight I sure don't wanna miss it."

Luke nodded. "Well, let's go."

Luke climbed into the driver's seat and waited for Bo and Cooter to get in. When they got in he put the car in drive and headed out of town toward Clover Crossing. Luke and Cooter talked but Bo stayed silent. He was nervous about going to Thomas's farm. He was afraid of Thomas. He had hurt him and he was afraid that he would hurt Luke too. He wished he never worked for Thomas. He never wanted his family to be involved in this. Now that they are, it really scared him.

Luke pulled into Thomas's farm and they all saw Thomas sitting on the front porch. When Luke cut the engine and started to climb out of it, Thomas stood up and walked off the porch. Bo and Cooter slowly climbed out of the General and stood next to Luke. Actually, Bo stood behind Luke and Cooter. He wanted to stay away from Thomas. Luke could sense that Bo was scared when he stood behind him and Cooter. He should've known that Bo was going to be scared after all that he's been through. But Luke wasn't going to let anything happen to Bo.

"What do you boys want?" Thomas asked angrily.

"Well, we just came here to deliver something," Luke said.

"Oh, yeah, what's that?"

"This," Luke answered as he delivered a hard punch right across Thomas's face. He landed hard on the ground with a loud thud.

Cooter just burst out laughing and patted Luke on the back. Thomas groaned and slowly rose to his feet.

"You shouldn't have done that, boy," Thomas said.

"You deserved it," Luke said. "Especially after what you did to Bo."

"This has nothing to do with you," Thomas said.

"Yes, it does, since Bo is my cousin," Luke said. "And nobody messes with my family and gets away with it."

Suddenly, Thoams ran into Luke and shoved him to the ground. They wrestled around on the ground and they each threw punches at each other. Thomas got on top of Luke and punched him in the face and in the stomach. Cooter stepped in and tried to pull Thomas off Luke. Bo just backed up a little farther so he wouldn't get involved in this. Luke and Thomas rolled around on the ground and Cooter tried to rip them apart before they killed each other. After about five minutes Cooter finally got them to separate.

"Luke, calm down," Cooter said. "I know you wanna get him for what he did, but I think you've had enough."

Luke shook his head. "No, I haven't."

"Luke, please," Bo pleaded. "Just stop. I wanna just get outta here."

Luke sighed and nodded. "Okay, Bo."

Luke, Bo and Cooter walked to the General but then stopped when they heard a flicking noise.

"Hold it right there!" Thomas yelled.

All three boys turned around and saw Thomas pointing a gun at them. All three of them raised their hands and stood still just glaring at Thomas.

"Y'all ain't going nowhere," Thomas growled.

Luke moved a little closer to Bo and Cooter. He was sick and tired of Thomas and he just wanted to beat his face in. He wanted to get out of there. His first instinct was to get closer to Bo and Cooter so he could protect them a little. He slowly kept moving closer to them and got in position so he could get the gun out of Thomas's hands.

"You ain't really gonna use that gun on us," Luke said.

Thomas smiled evily. "You have no idea how wrong you are."

'You ain't got what it takes to use that," Bo told him.

"Boy, you're asking for it," Thomas growled.

Thomas aimed his gun at Bo. Luke decided to go for it. He quickly shoved Bo aside and ran to Thomas. He grabbed Thomas's wrist that had the gun and tried to get it away from him. Bo didn't think as he jumped in and tried to get the gun. Cooter tried to help as much as he could but found it hard to do. Thomas tried to get Bo off of him and tried to get Luke's hand off his wrist in the process. Bo got is hand on the gun and tried to rip it out of Thomas's hand. Suddenly, a very loud gunshot rang out.


	14. Chapter 14

The second Luke heard the gunshot he figured the worst. Since he and Bo stopped struggling he thought Bo had been shot. But when he looked up he saw Bo standing with a very scared look on his face. If Bo had been shot he wouldn't have been standing. Luke drew his eyes away from Bo and looked at Thomas. He gasped when he saw blood gushing from a hole in Thomas's chest. Blood gushed from Thomas's chest and stained the ground a dark shade of red. He didn't figure that Thomas would've gotten shot. He just didn't seem to notice that as he and Bo struggled to get the gun that the gun had moved and was aiming at Thomas before he was shot. Luke didn't bother to check for a pulse. He knew Thomas was dead.

Luke looked up at Bo and saw that the boy had paled at seeing the dead body. Maybe it was also from shock. He looked over at Cooter and saw that he had paled too, but not as much as Bo. Luke looked back at Thomas's body lying on the ground and he too started to get pale. This was not how he wanted things to turn out. He just wanted to beat on Thomas for what he had done to Bo; he didn't literally want to kill him.

Luke looked back at Bo. Bo was so pale and he was shaking that it was amazing that he didn't fall over.

"Bo, don't look," Luke said as he walked up to Bo and put his hand on his cheek and turned his head away from Thomas's body. He sighed deeply as he felt Bo lean his head on his shoulder.

"Luke?" Cooter said trying to get his attention.

Luke looked at Cooter. "Cooter, call Rosco on the CB and have him get out here quick."

Cooter nodded and ran to the General. They all sat there in silence and waited for Rosco to show up. When he did he started complaining about having to come out there when he was in the middle of doing something. But when Luke showed Rosco Thomas's body he shut up. He started to pale just like the boys had done.

"What happened here?" Rosco asked.

"We got into an argument and Thomas pulled a gun on us," Luke said. "We wrestled around and tried to get the gun away from him, when he accidentally shot himself."

"Oh…well…uh…you boys can leave," Rosco stuttered. "I'll uh…take it from here."

Luke nodded. He and Cooter helped Bo into the General and then got in themselves. They waved to Rosco and then backed up out of the farm and headed back for Hazzard. Luke was a little curious about why Rosco just let them go like that. It wasn't like Rosco to do something like that. He just decided to leave it be and face it later when the time came. He didn't want to worry about it right now. He just wanted to get away from there. That was not how he wanted things to end. He wasn't expecting Thomas to pull a gun on them. He thought it was going to be just like every other time somebody pulled a gun on them. He was definitely not expecting Thomas to get killed.

When they got into town they dropped off Cooter back at the garage before taking off and heading to the farm. Luke noticed that Bo had been really quiet every since they left Thomas's farm. He had a feeling that he was in a state of shock.

Luke put his hand on BO's shoulder and gently shook it. "Hey, you okay?"

Bo sighed deeply. "I don't know, Luke. I really don't know."

"Everything's gonna be okay now," Luke said.

"You don't know that," Bo told him. "We could get charged with manslaughter."

Luke shook his head. "No, we won't. This was Boss's fault in the first place for getting you to work for Thomas."

"You know Boss, and you know he's gonna try to charge us with something," Bo said.

"I ain't gonna let him," Luke said.

Bo sighed and nodded. He trusted Luke. If Luke said that he wasn't going to let Boss charge them with something, then he wasn't. He trusted Luke with his life and this was no exception. He knew Luke wasn't going to let Boss charge them with something that they didn't do. Luke had always protected Bo, and he will always protect Bo. He'll never stop protecting him no matter what happens. And he wasn't going to let Boss charge them with anything.


	15. Chapter 15

When they pulled up to the farm they were a little nervous about telling Uncle Jesse and Daisy what had happened. They knew it was going to be hard for them to take all of this in. It was going to scare them out of their minds. Bo and Luke always knew that Uncle Jesse didn't like it when they got into so much trouble that their lives were at stake. And that was almost all the time. Uncle Jesse knew that the boys could handle themselves in these types of situations but he still didn't like it. He hated the thought of his boys in danger.

When Bo and Luke walked into the house Uncle Jesse and Daisy were sitting in the living room. They both had smiles on their faces, but when they saw the looks on Bo and Luke's faces, their smiles turned into frowns.

"What's going on, boys?" Uncle Jesse asked.

Luke sighed as he and Bo sat down on the couch. "Something bad has happened."

"Are you guys okay?" Daisy asked.

"We're fine," Luke said.

"For now," Bo added.

Luke sighed again. "We went to Thomas's and he pulled a gun on us. We struggled to get the gun away form him, and…he shot himself."

Daisy gasped. "What?"

"Is he dead?" Uncle Jesse asked as he paled at the news.

Luke slowly nodded. "Yes."

"Oh, no," Daisy cried.

"We called Rosco and he came out there," Luke explained. "When he came out there we explained what happened. He was kinda shocked at seeing the body. He just told us to leave, and he'd take care of it."

"Who pulled the trigger?" Uncle Jesse asked.

Luke shrugged. "Thomas must have. Me and Bo only had our hands on his wrist as we tried to get the gun away from him."

Uncle Jesse nodded. "Well, you boys are cleared for now. We'll just have to wait and see what happens next."

Right that second they heard a car turn off the main road. Daisy stood up and looked out the window to see who it was.

"It's Boss Hogg," she announced. "And Rosco's with him."

"It's gonna be about what happened to Thomas," Luke said.

They all stood up and went outside to see what they wanted. Bo was shaking because he was so scared that he and Luke were in trouble for what happened to Thomas. It wasn't their fault. If they didn't try to get the gun Thomas would've killed them and Cooter. However, Boss never believed them before. Why should he start now?

When they got outside Boss and Rosco pulled up in Rosco's patrol car. They got out and walked over to the Dukes.

"All right, Boss, what do you want?" Luke asked. "We already know it has to do with Thomas, so just tell us and get it over with."

Boss sighed. "Okay, boys, listen to me for once. I know I've done a lot of mean things in the past. I did a lot of things that I ain't too proud of. And I want you to know that I ain't pressing charges against you boys."

"You ain't?" Bo asked not sure if he heard right.

Boss shook his head. "No, I ain't. It really wasn't your fault. I'm also gonna pay to have your barn fixed."

"What? Why?" Bo asked.

Boss sighed. "Bo, when you came to me looking for work, you were right. You and Luke have saved my miserable hide so many times that I couldn't even begin to count. I just thought that this was the least I could do."

Bo was shocked. Out of all the years he knew Boss he never knew he had it in him to be this nice…especially to Dukes. It really shocked him. He never expected this either. He thought Boss would charge them with something, but he didn't even try.

"Well, thanks, J.D.," Uncle Jesse said. Bo could tell that Uncle was surprised too.

"We both wanna apologize for what happened," Rosco said. "This ain't how we wanted things to end."

"It's all right," Luke said.

Within two weeks the Dukes had their barn fixed. Boss kept his promise, and he paid for it to be fixed. Bo had about $200 from working for Thomas. He gave half of it to Uncle Jesse for the farm even though Uncle Jesse tried to refuse. He wanted Bo to keep the money because he worked so hard for it. After a little bit of arguing Uncle Jesse took the money. Bo donated the other half to the orphanage. After the barn was fixed things slowly went back to normal. Well, as normal as things got in Hazzard County.


End file.
